For example this week I had this tedious homework about mammals, but it was nice recapitulating the list of mammalian orders. Since, there were certain characters from my childhood I had totally forgotten about as well as their existence as species.
I'm referring to the Aardvark which is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata. It's a nocturnal mammal native of Africa. It's often called antbear or anteater since it has a long snout and a tubular mouth use to eat termites.
I instantly had a flash back to a Pink Panther and his friends video cassette I used to own, were The Ant and the Aardvark(1969) appeared.
The short episodes always made me laugh as a kid. It was amusing to watch how the grumpy aardvark would constantly chase a clever little red ant. I enjoy finding these connections between the media and nature, and how different species have served as an inspiration to create movies, cartoons, songs etc.
I also remembered another cartoon, I actually didn't watch it, but since I'm talking about the Aardvark's acting career it's worth mentioning:
Arthur(1996) is a TV series about the daily life of a young Aardvark and his family and friends.
It's an educative cartoon since it encourages reading and emphasizes on the importance of education. Arthur book series inspired by the TV series were later released and became a popular reading material for elementary children.
What I didn't know is it's actually the longest-running children's animated series in the U.S.! (and the second longest-running animated U.S series, after The Simpsons)
So we'll be seeing more of this awkward-cute mammal for years, not only in our TV screen but in real life since luckily it's not a threatened species!! :)
